Fruit sizer



F. W. CUTLER Jan. 25, 1938.

FRUIT SIZER 2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed April 22, 1935 A TTOR Y.

Jan. 25, 1938.

F. W. CUTLER FRUIT SIZER Filed April 22, 1935 2 Shets-Sheelt 2 Patented Jan. 25, 1938 FRUIT SIZER Frank W. Cutler, Portland, Oreg., assignor to Food Machinery Corporation, San Jose, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Application April 22, 1935, Serial No. 17,646 l 1 Claim.

This invention relates generally to the grading art, and is particularly concerned with certain improvements in apparatus for grading articles according to size.

A general object of the invention is to provide a grading apparatus especially adapted for use in rapidly grading fruits or the like according to size with minimum or no injury thereto.

A more specific object is to provide a grading apparatus in which the grading operations are confined to predetermined grading Zones separated by intervening non-grading zones, and having associated means for collecting and discharging the graded articles so arranged that the grading and discharge are effected in separate zones.

Further objects will become more apparent from the following detailed description of a conc-rete embodiment of the invention taken kin connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters denotev like parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a fruit sizing apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of a modied form of ing the several supporting standards I, to which are secured the longitudinally extending side rails 2 carrying a table 3 therebetween. Shelves 4, mounted on the side rails 2, form supports for two serie-s of adjustable bars 5, 5', arranged in end to end articulated relation to form sectional grading rails. A central stationary grading rail 5, mounted on a standard l, carried by the table 3, extends intermediate the sectional grading rails formed by the bars 5, 5', and is of generally triangular cross section as shown to form inclined faces cooperating with corresponding opposed inclined faces on the bars 5, 5', to form twin trough-like gradeways extending longitudinally of the machine.

The machine illustrated is designed to receive the fruit to be lgraded at its left hand end as viewed in Figure 1, and as the fruit is deposited in the gradeways it is carried therealong by means of a plurality of endless flexible aprons 8, the upper runs of which overlie and ride along the opposing inclined faces of the central grading rail 6, and thebars 5, 5. The aprons are secured to, and driven by three endless chains 9, the two outermost of which are arranged to travel in channel rails I0, mounted above the sectional sizing rails, and the innermost of which runs in a groove II, extending along the upper edge of the central grading rail 6. All three chains are trained around sprockets I 2 secured to idler shaft i3 at one end of the machine, and sprockets lll secured to driven shaftI I5 `at the other end of the machine. The shaft I5 is driven yby means of a chain It from a power shaft Il which is provided with a driving pulleyl I8 `to which power may be supplied from any suitable source to drive the chains and aprons in the direction indicated by the arrows.

It Will be understood that, in operation the bars 5,v 5',' are so adjusted that the width of the grade-ways progressively increases from the receiving end of the machine toward the other end, so that as the fruit is carried along the gradeways the individual pieces arereleased at various points therealong according to their size. As the fruit is thus released, it is received' upon the conveyer belts I9 which extend beneath the gradeways, and are trained around pulleys 2li secured to transverse shafts 2l and 22. veyer belts I9 are driven in the same direction, and preferably at the same speed, as the aprons 8, by means of a chain 23 trained around-sprechets secured to the shafts I5 and 22, and distribution of the fruit to the packing bins 255 is effected by means of shunts` 25 extending diagonally across the conveyer belts. For purposes of convenience, only two packing bins are illustrated as associated with each gradeway, but it will be understood that additional bins may be, and generally would be provided in practice.

An important feature of the present invention resides in the mounting and arrangement of the' articulated bars 5, 5', whereby to establish and maintain a series of non-grading sections or Zones along the gradeways intermediate the grading sections or zones, whereby to conne the grading action to certain predetermined zones separated by non-grading zones. This may be accomplished by mounting the alternate bars The con- I 5', in parallel relation to the central. grading I with each of the bars 5', one at each end thereof. The screw shafts 25 are rotatably journalled in bearings 21 carried on the shelves 4, and extended through threaded collars 28 secured to the bars 5', the latter being drilled to accommodate the inner ends of the shafts. Each pair of shafts is interconnected for simultaneous operation by means of a chaink 29 passing around sprocketsls secured to the shafts, and one shaft of each pair is provided With a hand wheel 3|.

It will be apparent that the hand wheels 3| constitute unitary controls for adjusting their associated bars 5 toward and away from the center grading rail 6, whereby the angularity of the grading bars 5 may be adjusted to regulate the sizing as desired, while at thesame time the bars 5 are maintained in parallel relation with the central grading rail at all times.

Due to the parallel relation of the bars 5 with respect to the centr-al grading rail, those portions r of the gradeways formed thereby obviously perform no grading functions so that the release of fruit from the gradeways is conned to those portions thereof formed by the angularly arranged bars 5, and it will be observed that the arrangement is such that the non-grading sections of the gradeway are located above the shunts 25.

Such construction and arrangement effectively overcomes a serious difficulty heretofore encountered in the operation of divergent type fruit grader wherein the gradeways are continuously divergent throughout their entire length. It will be understood that in operation the fruit is carried along the gradeways at considerable speeds, so that if it happens to be released at such a point as to cause it to strike any of the shunts it may do so with such force as to result in serious injury to the fruit, thereby rendering it unt for sale. It has accordingly heretofore been necessary in the operation of such machines either to run the risk of injuring a considerable portion of the fruit or to limit the speed of the machine so as to prevent fruit from being-thrown against the shunts with sufficient force to injure it. Ob-

" vously, these difficulties are avoided by the use of my invention since the machine may be run at whatever speed desired with no danger of the fruit falling from the gradeways on to the shunts, due to the latter being arranged under the nongrading sections of the gradeways.

The modified construction illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 is especially adapted for high speed operation with delicate fruits, such as ripe pears for example, which require lextremely gentle handling to avoid injury thereto. The modified construction referred to is substantially the same as before except that the sized fruit is received by a series of short conveyer belts 32 extending beneath the grading sections of the gradeways, and is discharged by means of lateral conveyer belts 33 extending transversely of the machine beneath the non-grading sections of the gradeways. The conveyer belts 32 are supported by pulleys 34 secured to shafts 35, one of each pair of which may be extended to one side of the machine and provided with a gear 36 meshing with a corresponding gear 31 secured to a longitudinal drive shaft 38. The lateral conveyer belts 33 are supportedby pulleys 39 secured to idler shafts 4|] and drive shaft 38. The several belts 32 and 33 may be driven by a chain 4I trained around sprockets secured to shaft I5 and one of the shafts`35.

It will be apparent that the modified construction permits higher rapid operation Without danger of injury even to very delicate fruit since due to the elimination of the shunts the fruit does not contact with any stationary structure in being discharged from the machine,` and at the same time the arrangement of the lateral discharge belts 32 beneath the non-grading sections of the gradeways prevents any mixing of the sizes discharged rfrom adjacent grading sections of the gradeways.

Having now described my invention and in what manner the same may be used, and what I claim to be new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

In a grading machine, a pair of longitudinally extending grading elements arranged in spaced apart relation to form a sizing gradeway, one of said grading elements comprising a series of sectionsarranged in alternate parallel and angular relation with the other grading element to form a series of grading sections separated by a plurality of intervening non-grading sections, a plurality of adjusting means associated with each of said parallel sections, a unitary control associated with each set of said adjusting means for simultaneously operating the same to move their associated section toward and away'from the other grading element, and in conned parallel relation thereto, and means arranged beneath said non-grading sections for separating the fruit discharged from the respective grading sections into segregated groups.

FRANK W. CUTLER. 

